Culturally endorsed implicit leadership theories and social entrepreneurship

Abstract

Using multi-level modelling and data on 121,325 individual-level responses from 26 countries for the year 2009 obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Global Leadership and Organizational Behavioral Effectiveness (GLOBE), World Governance Index (WGI) and World Values Survey (WVS), we seek to understand how national-level institutions impact individual level likelihood to engage in social entrepreneurship. We posit that cross-culturally endorsed implicit leadership theories (CLTs) influence the probability of individuals becoming social entrepreneurs. The influence is particularly pronounced when a country’s regulatory quality is supportive of social entrepreneurship and when there exists high levels of societal trust. We contribute to comparative entrepreneurship by introducing a powerful cultural antecedent of social entrepreneurship and through a deeper understanding of the influence of national level institutions.